ONE GODS: The Mystic Pagan’s Guide to the Bibleis a shamanic exploration of the Bible’s great journeys, struggles, quests, heroes, and heroines. Janet Rudolph’s ground-breaking book is an extra-ordinary look at Biblical mysticism and mystery. In her telling, it was Eve’s birthright to eat the fruit from the Tree of Life for it bears her name – Eve in Hebrew means life.

Drawing on spiritual forensics, she traces the footsteps of legends such as Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and Moses across cultures and time. The enigmas of healing serpents, burning bushes, heavenly ladders and more are traced from the ancient mystery schools of Egypt and MesoAmerica to the standing stones of the Celts and beyond.

The Bible is represented as a dynamic, living document, guiding the reader in a quest to discover personal answers to age-old questions: Who am I? What is my personal relationship to divinity? Why am I alive? Why will I die?

Unveiling new revelations on the Bible’s earliest teachings, ONE GODS provides inspiration and knowledge as well as concrete tools for readers to embark upon, add a touch of magic to and deepen their own spiritual journeys.

My new book has arrived!

ONE GODS: The Mystic Pagan’s Guide to the Bibleis a shamanic exploration of the Bible’s great journeys, struggles, quests, heroes, and heroines. Janet Rudolph’s ground-breaking book is an extra-ordinary look at Biblical mysticism and mystery. In her telling, it was Eve’s birthright to eat the fruit from the Tree of Life for it bears her name – Eve in Hebrew means life.

Drawing on spiritual forensics, she traces the footsteps of legends such as Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and Moses across cultures and time. The enigmas of healing serpents, burning bushes, heavenly ladders and more are traced from the ancient mystery schools of Egypt and MesoAmerica to the standing stones of the Celts and beyond.

The Bible is represented as a dynamic, living document, guiding the reader in a quest to discover personal answers to age-old questions: Who am I? What is my personal relationship to divinity? Why am I alive? Why will I die?

Unveiling new revelations on the Bible’s earliest teachings, ONE GODS provides inspiration and knowledge as well as concrete tools for readers to embark upon, add a touch of magic to and deepen their own spiritual journeys.

Note: I used this image which is from Machu Picchu because it is a cave below the mountainous temple. It was common for ancient temples that soared above the earth to be coupled with caves beneath them for ceremonial work. It seemed appropriate in the vein of Jacob’s ladder (see below) as the two aspects of the temple could be seen as a gateway for communication and interplay between underworld and overworld realms.

There is no Biblical record of Jacob going to Egypt, at least before his “initiation” as there is for his ancestor Abraham. Nevertheless he had experiences that were akin to mystery school training and experience. Did he have these experiences because he was a mystic and prophet deeply in tune with nature and the divine energies inherent within? Or was he exposed to formal training? It is impossible to know but what we do know is that his experiences and finally the bestowal of a new name does follow the template of the mystery school.

When Jacob first sets out into the world he has a vision of divinity. This vision is commonly referred to as Jacob’s ladder. In this dream/vision, Jacob drams of a ladder or staircase spanning heaven and earth with angelic energies moving between the realms. This clues us in that something sacred is afoot. After this experience he goes off to find his family. He marries first Leah and then Rachel. Twenty years later comes home again with his wives and children.

Twenty years is a traditionally important time in esoteric studies. It is generally accepted that a student will study the outer mysteries for 10 years, and then the inner mysteries for 10 years. At the end of this 20-year period, the initiate is recognized as a master.[i]

Before entering his homeland, Jacob goes off by himself. In modern day parlance, we would say that he went on a vision quest. To those who witnessed, it appeared that he was wrestling with a stranger.

Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.Genesis 32:2

The “he” in the following passage is the mysterious stranger:

When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained. . . .Then he said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.”But he answered, “I will not go unless you bless me.”Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob but Israel. . .”Genesis 32: 26, 27 and 29

Here is my own rewritten shamanic version of this tale:

As the MorningStar rose in the sky (dawn), Jacob was initiated and like all new initiates, like his ancestors Abram and Sarai before him, he was granted a new name, a spirit name. The name he was given was a blend of the gods of Egypt and Canaan. He took the name of the moon goddess of the Egyptians (Isis) and the Egyptian sun god (Ra), along with the Great Bull God of the Canaanites (El). Henceforth his name would be known as Is-Ra-El.

I go into greater detail about Jacob’s experience and discuss who the mysterious stranger was in Chapter 6 of ONE GODS. You can pre-order the book (and help support my work) by clicking on my crowdfunding link at the side of the page.

(Note: Check out the photo carefully. The cave is formed in the image of an eagle. The head is on the ground [roped off so one one steps on it] and the wings can be seen soaring from the rocks above it)

[i] Although these are the traditional times it takes for each of the studies, an individual student’s time may vary given their own spiritual path.

What experiences led Abraham and Sarah to become the matriarch patriarch of a new religion? Led them to beginning a cultural thread which culminates in a whole new vision of religion? There were many experiences but the focus today is looking at their possible initiation into the Mysteries. In spiritual systems throughout time and throughout the world, when an initiate has experienced the Great Mysteries, they are initiated in ceremony. One mark of this experience is to earn a new name. In this thread, I am are going to look at two definitive cases of new Biblical names, and one speculative one. The first is Abram (Avram) and Sarai from Ur.

Look at where they travel to in the course of their lives: Egypt

There was a famine in the land, and Abram wentdown to Egypt to sojourn there.Genesis 12:10

As discussed in my previous blog, Egypt had the most ancient and most prominent of all mystery schools. Even through there is no record of it, it would make sense that Abram and Sarai had some contact with the ancient Egyptian mystery schools during their time there. further evidence that they had an experience of the Great Mystery is that soon after this sojourn, Abram has a personal conversation with divinity or Biblically speaking, forms a covenant with God:

No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.Genesis 17:5

Changing a name changes the course of one’s life.

And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, Sarai,you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.”Genesis 17:15

What is the significance of adding the “ha” sound to Abram’s name and its variation, “ah” to Sarai’s? The Kabbalah speaks about Abram’s name change; “From under the Throne of Glory, God took the letter ה [pronounced “hey” or “ha”], with which the world was created, and crowned Abram by implanting it in his name, which became Abraham.”[i]

It is surely conceivable that Abram and Sarai went through an initiation process and ceremony. When Abram became Abraham, and Sarai became Sarah, it was the breath of life “with which the world was created” that was incorporated into their core being. The addition of the power syllable made palpable their connection to all of creation through the agency of breath.

After receiving her new name, Sarah learns she will give birth:

she shall be a mother of nations;kings of people shall be of herGenesis 17:16

Abraham and Sarah with their awakened, renewed interconnection to the power of breath, are about to create new life or in a Biblical context, become the matriarch and patriarch of “nations.” As above so below; creation as it occurred in the heavens when god’s breath blew over the waters. This is reflected in human life. Ha, the seed of creation, is an outward manifestation of their inward spiritual journey.

Next post: Another Biblical name change.

[i] Munk, Rabbi Michael L, The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet, Mesorah Publications, ltd, 2009; 87. From Yalkut Reuveni, a Kabbalistic work written in 1660.

In October of 2016, I was ordained by Serge Kahili King as an Alaka’i (Hawaiian shaman) on the main island of Hawaii. For more information on events and services please contact me at my e-mail listed below. Put “alaka’i” in the title: